Macbeth - Reviews - Kathryn

Last Update: 17 December 2002

The advantage of revisiting this particular production of Macbeth
(apart from the obvious one!) has been the opportunity to focus
on the finer details that make up the whole.

As a play, Macbeth has been described
as being "a tragedy of unchecked will," and while I
wouldn't dispute the fact that Macbeth the character chooses to
exercise the power of conscious decision and deliberate action,
I don't necessarily believe that a modern audience with even a
mild interest in psychoanalysis would be entirely satisfied with
this definition, and would describe Macbeth as a tragedy of the
fragility of the human psyche . Macbeth can also be viewed as
a study in the disintegration of trust between comrades-in-arms,
rulers and subjects, and husbands and wives, torn apart by one
man's self-confessed "vaulting ambition."

Since much of the witchcraft aspect of
the weird sisters has been played down, it seems more fitting
to view their incantations as representing a "what if...?"
scenario, in much the same way as the Titans of Greek legend manipulated
the fate of their human playthings.

As the play opens, no one, least of all
Macbeth, could imagine the effect that a chance meeting with these
midnight hags will have on a bluff, popular and brave warrior;
turning him into a murderous tyrant, estranged from his wife,
haunted by the victims of his crimes, attended only by those who
must. "...my way of life is fall'n into the sear, the yellow
leaf, and that which must accompany old age, as honour, love,
obedience, troops of friends, I must not look to have."

Temptation is put in the way of both Banquo
and Macbeth; one will view the prophecies with scepticism and
advise caution, while the other will see only the prize that is
offered and not the price to be paid.

Banquo is first to note the change in
Macbeth. He fears that the weird sisters predictions are worming
their way into Macbeth's subconscious, despite his careless "I
think not of them." Even so, Banquo mistakenly reminds Macbeth
not only of the sisters vision of Macbeth's future kingship, but
also Banquo's own role as "father to a line of kings."

Banquo's stiff acceptance of Macbeth's
"invitation" to the banquet and his flippant response
to the enquiry about his travel plans points up their faltering
friendship, but it is the overly-casual "Goes Fleance with
you?" which signals its end.

It is within the relationship between
husband and wife that the true cost of Macbeth's desires are demonstrated
most painfully. The Macbeths of the play's first half inhabit
their own private universe; everything they say and do is for
the benefit of the other. But this interdependency leads only
to paranoia and madness - the consequences of Macbeth's actions
being manifested in Lady Macbeth. The look they exchange at the
end of Act One following their coronation suggests fear of the
future rather than satisfaction at ambition achieved.

The banqueting scene, regarded chiefly
as the point at which Macbeth's chickens start to come home to
roost, has I think acquired a second level of meaning - that of
the estrangement between Macbeth and his wife. The assembled Thanes
see their king assaulted by an incomprehensible waking nightmare,
while we also see a frightened woman, frantically covering for
the insane behaviour of a man she can barely recognise as her
husband.

Macbeth's apparent unconcern for the change
in his nature and its cause "my strange and self-abuse is
the initiate fear that wants hard use" and his "we are
yet young in deed," a suggestion of more to come, is enough
to shatter Lady Macbeth illusions, and sever the last threads
of their relationship.

Macbeth is now a desolate figure. A slave
to prophecy, the only creatures who come to him willingly are
the weird sisters, figments of his imagination who fuel his addiction.
Bolstered by their assurances of immortality, he turns his attention
to Lady Macbeth's fragile state of mind, but it is too little,
too late. Weary of the struggle, and with his soul set in darkness,
Macbeth lurches between bravado and resignation, with any proper
expression of grief for his wife's fate demanding more effort
than he can muster.

The play comes full circle, ending as
it began, with Macbeth once again embattled; previously hailed
as a hero, now executed as a traitor.